Failure to buy a gun could cost Bush dearly in Republican race
JEB BUSH is one of the few Republican presidential candidates who does not own a gun, a Daily Telegraph survey has found, potentially undermining his standing with the party’s base.
Of the 17 Republican hopefuls vying to lead their party into next year’s election only Mr Bush and two other candidates do not have their own firearms.
Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, does not own a gun while Carly Fiorina, the only woman in the race, has six guns in her house but they belong to her husband. All the other candidates said they had at least one gun, with weapons ranging from handguns to semi-automatic rifles.
While Mr Bush is avowedly pro-gun on the campaign trail, the fact he does not have one himself may stoke the suspicions of some gun rights activists.
“That he doesn’t even own a gun for his own protection strikes me as somewhat disconnected from the reality that many Americans face,” said Larry Pratt, from Gun Owners of America.
Despite a spate of high-profile shootings across the US, Republicans are overwhelmingly opposed to any new restrictions on guns.
Mr Bush has used gun rights as a political cudgel to attack Donald Trump as he tries to bring the billionaire’s poll ratings back down to earth. The former Florida governor reminded Republi- cans of Mr Trump’s 2000 book,
America We Deserve, in which the real estate mogul said he supported Bill Clinton’s ban on assault weapons.
But Mr Trump appears to have recanted and told NBC News that gun control laws were a “slippery slope” that would end in Americans’ rights to bear arms being violated.
A 2010 list of gun owners in New York city showed Mr Trump had a carry business licence, which allowed him to carry a concealed handgun as part of his work. It is unclear what reason Mr Trump gave to obtain his licence.
Mr Trump said in July that he still had both a gun and a licence but told a reporter it was “none of your business” if he ever used it.
Other Republicans were eager to share details of their arsenals. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor whose recent book is titled God,
Guns, Grits, and Gravy, wrote that he bought his first rifle aged nine and now owns multiple assault rifles.
Jim Gilmore, a little-known former Virginia governor, said he has four handguns and two shotguns.
Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, is a keen hunter who won a 12gauge shotgun in a raffle.
Mr Christie, one of the few other non-gun owners, has done little to loosen gun laws in his state and is one of the NRA’s least favourite candidates, giving him a C grade on gun rights.